Real Taste or Pure Imitation?

Śrī Chaitanya Sāraswat Maéh Philippines Nama Hatta Center U.P. Campus, Diliman, Quezon City 1101 E-mail add: scsnamahatta@gmail.com or scsmathphilippines@yahoo.com Contact (+63)09498332414

Mature taste and immature imitation At present Rādhā-Govinda-līlā is so far from us because we are bound by our material senses and have no control over them. We have a materialistic conception, and through that we fall into the garbage of illusion again and again. A proper practitioner who is qualified to remember Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa-līlā under the guidance of his Guru has no attachment to this mundane world. He has no lust, anger, greed, or illusion—nothing. But we are conditioned souls who are polluted by māyā, and we will be cheated even more by māyā if we are not careful and prematurely try to enter into the higher plane of Kṛṣṇa‟s Vṛndāvan Pastimes.

So many so-called big personalities and sādhus may preach about Vrajabhajan, but before the stage of ruchi we are not qualified for that. Ruchi means extreme attachment, affection, and love that is free from anything mundane. Those who have ruchi can think about the Pastimes of RādhāGovinda, their position in those Pastimes, the aṣṭa-kāliyā-līlā, and many other things. But if we still have any anarthas [mundane desires], then any practice of that will be imitation. And imitationism, sahajiyāism, takes us to hell.

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We have seen many bābājīs singing Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa-līlā and crying so much: singing and crying, singing and crying, and finally foaming at the mouth. But simply showing many symptoms of ecstasy is not real Kṛṣṇa-prema. Śrīla Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur clearly expressed in his song, ki āra bolibo tore mana mukhe bolo prema prema,vastutaḥ tyajiyā hema śūnya-grantha añchale bandhana (Kalyāṇa-kalpa-taru: Upadeśa, 18.1) “My dirty and naughty mind, what can I say to you? You are always saying, „Kṛṣṇa-prema, Kṛṣṇa-prema‟, and making an exhibition of the symptoms of Kṛṣṇa-prema, but you actually do not have anything. Your activity is comparable to making a knot in the corner of your cloth to show others that you have a piece of gold there. Inside you have nothing. You think you are carrying a precious golden jewel within you, but actually you have nothing of value. You think your activities are giving you the wealth of Kṛṣṇa-prema but actually they are only deceiving you.”

The ecstasy and nectar of the Pastimes of Kṛṣṇa in Vṛndāvan can only be tasted by liberated souls. We must wait for the stage of ruchi to come to us before trying to enter there. We should first make our heart and mind clean and engage in the service of Rādhā-Govinda under the guidance of a real sādhu, who is properly practising Kṛṣṇa consciousness in the line of exclusive service. Such a sādhu will guide us properly according to our stage of development. If we try to proceed in that way and engage in Hari-nām-saṅkīrtan as it was given by Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu for the Kali-yuga, it will be possible for us to receive the purifying mercy of Rādhā-Govinda. We will be fully satisfied with that.

[Excerpts from the book Revealed Truth by His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj]

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